Amidst all the “last budget” euphoria and the high expectations from the general public of it, the budget outlay details for the Indian Railway went relatively unnoticed. And possibly this was the prime reason for merging the Railways budget with the Union budget. Significant reforms are needed in Indian Railways whilst keeping populism at bay.

There were sufficient hints in recent months and so nobody can claim surprise over the Union Budget 2018-19 offerings. The Gujarat Assembly election result had demonstrated that rural voters were upset with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP had fared less well than it had expected in village local body elections in some states.